Forum tests candidates’ knowledge on many subjects

Four statehouse candidates participated in a forum Thursday night at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

The forum showcased two races: State Senate District 41, between Democrat Mary Stewart and Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks; and State House District 82, between Democrat Phil Miller and Republican Jeff Shipley.

Moderator Rustin Lippincott, the arts center's executive director, asked the candidates 13 questions on topics ranging from mental health to job training to smart meters.

Business incentives

The candidates were asked if the state should provide incentives for businesses to either stay or relocate in Iowa.

Miller-Meeks noted that the state gives favorable tax treatment to renewable energy businesses. She said that was an important aspect of attracting businesses to the state, but the state should always be mindful of its return on investment.

Stewart said she liked the idea of business incentives, but worried about how many incentives the state can afford. She said one of the state's largest employers paid no taxes because of Iowa's incentive program.

Shipley said 'people spend money better than the government can.” He said changes to the tax structure should be done fairly so as not to benefit new businesses at the expense of existing businesses.

Miller said the state's incentive program for attracting business began after the 'Great Recession” of 2007-2008. He said there's probably no longer a need for them, and remarked that the research and development grants were given no sunset. Instead of spending money on incentives, he favored spending it on other government programs such as 'law enforcement, roads and education.”

Tension

Lippincott asked the candidates how they would resolve the partisan tension in the country.

Miller-Meeks said her strategy is to be nice to people, even when they're not nice in return. She quoted Michelle Obama, who remarked, 'When they go low, we go high.”

Miller said the notion of deep partisan division is a bit overblown, and that he and the 99 other members of the Iowa House have worked on plenty of bipartisan bills.

'I don't notice the divide much,” he said.

Stewart said the best way to heal a divide is to acknowledge the value in what the other person is saying, even if you disagree. She said the key to compromise is respect.

Shipley said he's received many nasty comments on social media, even from people who were later nice to him in real life.

'Why not just say you disagree with me instead of all these negative things about me?” he wondered.

He talked about belonging to a group called 'Better Angels,” where people of diverse viewpoints come together to talk about their beliefs. He said it has been a rewarding experience, and that he has become aware of nuances in other people's beliefs that he didn't see before.

Into the workforce

The candidates were asked what the state could do to make high school students more ready for work after graduation.

Miller said Iowans must come to grips with a 'different demographic than we remember,” and that test scores are creeping down while the number of kids on free and reduced lunch creeps up.

He believed that students would be better prepared for the workforce if schools had more money.

'One percent new money for schools each year is not enough,” he said.

Shipley spoke about giving a talk in a school last year where 'half of the students in the class didn't want to be there.” He said there's something wrong with the schools when kids are falling asleep instead of joyfully learning.

'We need to get to the bottom of the problem,” he said.

Miller-Meeks said some students might be better suited to a vocational career as opposed to a four-year liberal arts degree, and they should be supported in that choice. She spoke about how it would be nice to pair students with local business owners to give them on-the-job training.

Stewart said institutions like Indian Hills Community College, which she worked for, do well at training students with a good general education background and giving them the skills they need for a particular job.

Smart meters

Lippincott asked the candidates for their thoughts on Alliant Energy's plan to replace analog meters with smart meters, which transmit data over radio-frequency, eliminating the need for meter readers.

Miller said that, after learning the extent of opposition to smart meters in Fairfield, he approached Alliant to see what the utility could do. In response, Alliant agreed to put Fairfield at the bottom of the list of towns scheduled for the change.

Shipley said smart meters are a 'disaster waiting to happen,” and that the costs of installation are 'huge,” causing some states to forego them. He said addressing smart meters will be the first thing he does in the Legislature.

Stewart said she became aware of smart meters during a Rotary meeting in Ottumwa last spring. She said she hopes Alliant is open to dialogue.

Miller-Meeks said it's good that there's an opt-out for those who want to keep their analog meter. However, she noted that the opt-out does not apply to solar customers.

Marijuana

Should the state legalize recreational marijuana or expand the availability of medical marijuana? Stewart said she wasn't sure because she hadn't done much research on the subject.

'I'm open to the conversation, but I need more information about the social and economic consequences [of legalization],” she said.

Miller-Meeks said there are benefits to medical marijuana, but the extent of them are unknown because no research is allowed on marijuana.

'That should change,” she said.

She favored expanding access to medical marijuana, and was open to legalizing recreational marijuana. However, she said there must be a way for law enforcement to detect impairment caused by marijuana like they do for alcohol.

Shipley said he's known patients who suffered from a disease and wanted to take medical marijuana but couldn't. He said that, where marijuana is available, opioid use goes down.

'Prohibition is not working, and we need a fresh approach,” he said.

Miller said the only kind of marijuana that is legal in Iowa is cannabis oil. One Iowa company has begun to manufacture it.

Miller said he is against recreational marijuana.

Farming

As the farm population ages, some farmers are struggling with a succession plan, who will take over the farm once they're gone. The candidates were asked what they thought of this and what they could do about it.

Miller-Meeks commented that it is difficult for people not born into farming to enter the field, because the capital expenses are massive.

'A combine costs $500,000,” she said.

She talked about the importance of recruiting young farmers by getting them started working on a farm, and then taking on more responsibility as they mature.

'There's nothing better than watching things grow,” she said.

Stewart said that if the state can afford 'tax incentives for big corporations,” it can afford to give some to small businesses, too. She wants to ensure that young people who wish to farm are able to do that.

Miller echoed Miller-Meeks's sentiment about how expensive it is to get into farming.

'It takes millions of dollars to farm,” he said. 'You need to have a relative in farming, or work for a large farmer.”

Shipley said it's a tough problem with no easy answers. He said the government should get out of the way and allow farmers to adapt to changing needs. He said Fairfield residents are engaged in all sorts of experimental agriculture, and he'd love to see that continue.

American dream

Lippincott asked the candidates if people can still achieve the fabled 'American dream.” Shipley said many businesses are hungry for workers, and this has pushed wages up.

'If you just show up to work, you can find success,” he said.

He spoke about how the business he works for, Simpleray, has grown from five people when he started a few years ago to 50 employees.

Miller said a couple of obstacles are getting in the way of achieving the American dream. One of those is the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which must be raised, he said. The other is the Legislature's changes to collective bargaining in 2017.

Stewart said 'it's impossible” to live on $7.25 an hour, and also favored raising the minimum wage. She said Wapello County approved a higher minimum wage than that a few years ago, but the Legislature responded by passing a law forbidding counties from raising the minimum wage above the state mandate.

Miller-Meeks said the minimum wage is not intended to provide a livable wage for adults. Jobs that pay minimum wage are designed to give young people skills. She warned that raising the minimum wage too high would force businesses to lay off workers.

Mental health

The candidates were asked what they thought of the current mental health system in Iowa.

Stewart said the need for mental health runs deep. She shared a story about a man whose son attempted to take his own life. The only place they could go for help was the emergency room. The man is afraid his son will attempt suicide again, so the man sleeps in his bed to stop him in case he tries.

Miller-Meeks said it was nice to see Southern Iowa Mental Health Center open a new facility in Ottumwa this year. The facility provides crisis stabilization and 23-hour observation. She said the area needs that service, because it's difficult to find mental health care providers in rural Iowa.

Miller said the state could budget for rural psychiatric residency, to make it easier for psychiatrists to find work in rural Iowa. He also said schools need more social workers.

Shipley said he's thankful for Gov. Kim Reynolds's leadership on this issue. He favors returning control over mental health to local communities. Beyond state action, there are things individuals can do to help those in need.

'People should ask each themselves, ‘How can I be a better friend?'” he said.

Day care

What wage does it take to afford day care, and what responsibility does the state have to provide it? That was the question posed to the candidates. Miller-Meeks answered it by saying the main thing the state can do is foster wage growth by improving the economy. She was open to the idea of providing incentives to day care providers.

Stewart spoke about how her family had a day care provider come to their house. She felt bad about the situation because her family was not able to pay the provider what she was worth.

Shipley said the main thing Iowa can do is provide an avenue for its workforce to attain skills, so they can work in jobs that pay well enough to afford day care.

Miller said the unmet need for day care slots in the county numbers about 400. He said it will be important to encourage day care facilities to expand, and for new people to start them.

CAFOs

The state controls the permitting of confined animal feeding operations, but should counties have that power instead?

Shipley answered in the affirmative. However, he said that local control must be an overarching mind-set, and not invoked solely on the issue of hog confinements.

'I believe local leaders should have the power instead of bureaucrats,” he said.

Miller said that the price of pork plummeted to 5 cents per pound in the 1990s, and that eliminated most of the small producers. That led to vertical integration of the industry and the large confinements of several thousand hogs we see today.

He believed that the Master Matrix used to score CAFOs on their environmental impacts should be revisited, since it is now 15 years old.

Miller-Meeks said government is best when it is closest to the people. However, the smell of hog confinements cannot be confined to one county, so she understands why they would be regulated at the state level.

Stewart agreed, saying that local control was important, but water quality and runoff affect counties downstream of the CAFO, too.

'We need some state regulation,” she said.

Sex ed, birth control, abortion

The candidates were asked to give their opinion on the preceding three topics. Miller said that middle schools usually cover sex education. He believes birth control should be available to women no matter what class they belong to. On abortion, Miller said the issue was decided when seven of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices said in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that women's right to privacy extended to reproduction.

Shipley said he was raised to believe that life begins at conception, and he believes that still today. He was told that, since he is a man, he should not have a say in whether a woman gets an abortion. That logic resonated with him. He was glad to see that Iowa's first female governor, Kim Reynolds, signed a law earlier this year banning the abortion of fetuses with a heartbeat.

Shipley said he wants women with an unplanned pregnancy to know that they and their child will be loved and supported.

'That's the world we're going to create,” he said.

Stewart said she believes birth control should be available over-the-counter, and that whether to have an abortion should be decided solely by the woman consulting with her doctor.

'That's a personal decision no one should make for a woman,” she said.

Miller-Meeks said men should be part of the discussion on birth control, too. She said men must be taught to use condoms and to make sure that their partner consents to sex.

She believes the morning after pill should be available. She also believes that life is special, and that the state should make it easier to adopt.

Charter schools and public schools

The candidates were asked about their attitudes toward funding charter schools vs. public schools. Stewart said that, despite having gone to a parochial school herself, the state's priority should be funding public schools.

'Our first goal should be to guarantee every student a chance,” she said.

Miller-Meeks and her husband attended public schools, but she sees the value of private schools, too. She mentioned that the town of Fairfield has both a thriving public education system and a thriving private school in Maharishi School.

Shipley said it's a mistake to see private schools and public schools as being in competition, instead of working together to educate the state's youth.

Miller said 30,000 students in Iowa receive private schooling. If a voucher program is passed whereby students would receive $6,500 a year to go to whatever school they want, it would devastate rural schools.